Palm Sunday
He is risen! Well, not yet. Today was palm Sunday big-O style. Church was packed this morning.
I love the walk from my apartment. It's dirty and trash is everwhere, but it's pretty dry now so when it gets windy the trash blows around instead of lying stuck in the mud. Much more beautiful. I even saw leaves today on some of the dogwoods. Church is straight south from my apartment along the main drag. It's pretty flat so you can see the sun on the cupolas the whole time. Usually it's a lonely walk in the cold. Today I was one in a trail of hundreds flocking to church in the beautiful sun.
People selling pussy-willow branches lined the path up to church. (Instead of palms, I guess) The line to buy candles was out the door when I arrived and both the side chapels had their doors open to relive the congestion. It was the most reverent mosh-pit I've ever been in. I couldn't lift my arms to cross myself, let alone bow. It took me about 30 minutes to work my way from the door to where I saw Brian standing.
The service was in full-swing when I got there at 9:30 (a good 45 minutes late) and lasted until 11:30. The liturgy is long when 100 people take communion in a single file line. The highlight was hanging out while Joel went up to venerate the cross and get sprinkled. The priest really seemed to enjoy flicking water on people and their pussy-willow branches (on the left shoulder!) as they filed by. Water for the branches, the face, kiss the cross and go. Flick, flick, kiss.
I really have enjoyed this year as I've audited Othodoxy. Learned a lot. It's changed my assumptions of what "church" is and why I go. I've had to give up things like being fed, serving and participation that I held as essential before. Makes you think.
I love the walk from my apartment. It's dirty and trash is everwhere, but it's pretty dry now so when it gets windy the trash blows around instead of lying stuck in the mud. Much more beautiful. I even saw leaves today on some of the dogwoods. Church is straight south from my apartment along the main drag. It's pretty flat so you can see the sun on the cupolas the whole time. Usually it's a lonely walk in the cold. Today I was one in a trail of hundreds flocking to church in the beautiful sun.
People selling pussy-willow branches lined the path up to church. (Instead of palms, I guess) The line to buy candles was out the door when I arrived and both the side chapels had their doors open to relive the congestion. It was the most reverent mosh-pit I've ever been in. I couldn't lift my arms to cross myself, let alone bow. It took me about 30 minutes to work my way from the door to where I saw Brian standing.
The service was in full-swing when I got there at 9:30 (a good 45 minutes late) and lasted until 11:30. The liturgy is long when 100 people take communion in a single file line. The highlight was hanging out while Joel went up to venerate the cross and get sprinkled. The priest really seemed to enjoy flicking water on people and their pussy-willow branches (on the left shoulder!) as they filed by. Water for the branches, the face, kiss the cross and go. Flick, flick, kiss.
I really have enjoyed this year as I've audited Othodoxy. Learned a lot. It's changed my assumptions of what "church" is and why I go. I've had to give up things like being fed, serving and participation that I held as essential before. Makes you think.
posted by nach at 11:46 PM
1 Comments:
its amazing to me how much church, for us in here the states, can be so much about self-fulfillment masquerading as selflessness. Wanting to serve within is usually just as much about trying to get into the "inner circles" of the church and feel like we own the place. getting fed is seemingly innocent enough but I know that I feel struck sometimes by how little I'm doing outside of church, and how I'm putting expectation on my pastor to reinvent the gospel in my heart each week, cuz I'm sure as heck not doing much about it otherwise.
and even tithing sometimes feels like putting funds into a retirement account, thinking maybe I can call in a favor on God once I've given enough. It's so clear that at every turn we get in our own way on our path to God. Thank God for Jesus who blazed that trail for us.
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